Allen & Company LLC at a Glance

Uppers

Downers

The Buzz

"Good in its niche market, but small and not an important player in the big picture"

"For such a secretive company [they don't even have a Web site] they have done a great job of building a brand"

"Inconsistent quality; prestigious name partner and a couple others"

About Allen & Company LLC

THE SCOOP

Allen's singular statusHow is Allen & Company unlike other banks? Let
us count the ways: It has no website, no barrage of press releases
touting recent deals, no sprawling menu of financial services, no
research division, no employment contact and no formal recruiting
process. What Allen & Company does have is a platinum
reputation and serious mystique, earned over eight decades of
semi-secretive, exclusive advisory and wealth management work with
some of the biggest names in corporate America. The firm is
an institutional broker and money manager for high-net-worth
individuals, including the founding Allen family; it also provides
M&A, underwriting and related advisory services. The firm
regularly ranks as one of the top-25 M&A advisors by deal
volume each year.

Three-Herbert firm
Founded in 1922 by brothers Charles and Herbert Allen, the (very)
private company is now helmed by the third generation of Allens,
each of whom has the same first name. Founder Herbert Allen
relinquished control to his son Herbert Anthony Allen in 1966;
Herbert Anthony Allen Jr. took the reins in late 2002. (Rule
of thumb around the Allen world: Allen Sr. is always Herbert, while
Allen Jr. is always Herb.)

When Herb Allen began his tenure as CEO, the firm quietly
revamped its legal structure, creating a limited-liability company
called Allen & Co. LLC. The LLC, seeded with $40 million
of Allen family capital, took over the operations of Allen &
Co. Inc., which remains alive as an investment vehicle for the
Allens.

Coke is it
Most of Allen & Company's clients hail from the media, sports,
entertainment, communications and technology sectors-this tiny
boutique was a player in Google's 2004 initial public
offering. It's also been behind the scenes of such
headline-worthy deals as Time Warner/Comcast's purchase of
Adelphia, the Disney/ABC tie-up and the 20-year, $400 million deal
that gave Citigroup naming rights to the Mets ballpark.

But Allen & Co.'s closest ties are to Coca-Cola, thanks to a
relationship that dates back to 1982. Then-CEO Herbert Allen
had bought a controlling stake in Columbia Pictures in 1973 (he
paid just $4 per share for the legendary studio). In 1982,
Coke bought Columbia, paying a whopping $750 million. Allen
pocketed $45 million and earned himself a seat on the Coke board;
the marquee deal also catapulted Allen & Company into the upper
echelons of i-banking, helping it win a number of prestigious
clients.

Since its first deal with Coke Allen & Co. has done over 15
subsequent deals and underwriting assignments for the soft drink
giant and its affiliates, raking in millions of dollars in advisory
fees. The Allen family still owns a chunk of Coke shares and
there's been some boardroom back-and-forths, too: Coke president
Donald Keough became chairman of Allen & Co., and his son
Clarke joined the bank's institutional sales group.

The place to beBy all accounts, 1982 was a very good year for Allen &
Company. That's also the year the firm launched its annual media
conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The exclusive executive
retreat has become ground zero for big media deal making,
attracting the likes of Barry Diller, Bill Gates, Michael Eisner,
Sumner Redstone and Oprah Winfrey.

The event is widely covered by business media outlets, which
dispatch reporters to eavesdrop around the closed-door meetings in
the hopes of breaking news about a hot deal. Arena Football
League Commissioner David Baker (another Allen & Company
client) has called the phalanx of corporate jets that land in Sun
Valley at Allen's behest at the largest private air force in the
world.

The cream of the crop
Many boldface names have made their way onto Allen & Company's
list of managing directors. Among them are former U.S.
Senator Bill Bradley; George Tenet, the former director of the CIA;
Priceline.com director (and media M&A powerhouse) Nancy
Peretsman; and Steve Greenberg, former Major League Baseball deputy
commissioner.

As for CEO Herb Allen, until 2009, he and his family had ranked
on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list every years since the
list's inception in 1982. In the 2008 edition, Herb Allen and
family ranked at No. 227, with an estimated net worth of $2
billion. In 2009, Allen dropped out of the list.